Within his heavily armored and highly destructive body,
Blitzwing has the ice-cold mind of a master strategist - sometimes. At other
times, he is a boiling cauldron of rage, waiting for any excuse to unleash his
firepower on the nearest target. And now and again he is a chaotic whirlwind of
bizarre behavior and intermittent bursts of plasma fire. His unpredictability
makes him a poor soldier, but his raw firepower and unstable mind make him a
useful tool for a commander as capable as
Megatron.

I guess at some point it's easiest to just say that since Classics began in
2006, everyone has asked for everything to be remade in that style. Now, I'm
still waiting for my Classics G2 Hooligan to be realized, but everyone has
their own priorities. Blitzwing was generally felt to be a prominent omission
though, especially when Universe (2008) produced an Octane. It's taken nearly
seven years since the outset of modernized G1 character remakes, but Blitzwing
has finally reached the front of the line, as one of the first two of the
Thrilling 30 anniversary line to reach retail. Time to cross another one off
the list...

Robot Mode

In an odd step, this may be the weakest of Blitzwing's modes. There's only
one serious design issue contributing to that, though. The shoulders hinge down
in to the torso for robot mode, but in almost all samples of the toy, they
won't catch and lock in place. So moving the arms will typically pull the whole
shoulder loose instead. If you remember what it was like trying to pose Reveal
The Shield Jazz's arms (or the arms of any other use of the mold) you already
have a sense of this. The shoulders can be held in place while the arm is
posed, so with a bit of care it's not a fatally damaging problem. Thing is,
I've figured out why this happens and why the extent varies from instance to
instance. A panel is attached to the back and is used for rotating the turret
in tank mode. The panel is made of the unpaintable plastic typically used in
stress-bearing places on Transformers. The panel is kind of thin, and the
plastic can and does warp. And the tolerances, that is the degree to which the
parts can deviate from perfect alignment and still work is incredibly tiny, so
just about any degree of warping pulls the shoulders back to where they can't
lock in. I've heard of trying to correct for it by sanding down some of the
toy's internal structure as well as thickening the tabs in the torso so they
can catch again, but what method, if any, you should choose to try to address
this will depend what you're comfortable attempting with your toy.

Blitzwing is something of a fusion between the G1 character and aspects of
the Animated take. The torso now greatly resembling that of a Seeker is a good
example of what's borrowed from Animated. Tall shins decorated with tank treads
are also an Animated trait. The feet are G1 inspired, in a way. For those not
familiar, the original Blitzwing toy in G1 didn't have feet. It stood on its
jet nozzles and used the tail wings as a toe. This Blitzwing has feet ...which
are styled to look like spread out jet engine nozzles. Neat way to acknowledge
the original, I suppose! But yes, the major Animated callback is the
face-switching head that cycles between a G1 style Blitzwing face, and the two
distinct faces of Animated, Crazyface and the calmer "Icy" personality. The
ability to switch faces can be ignored easily if it somehow offends you. The
side effects kind of can't though. The helmet is a bit oversized relative to
the faces in order to give clearance for the pieces to move easily. The faces
and the helmet have all been cast out of soft plastic as well. I have
suspicions of practical concerns around this, but outside the unlikely case of
official comment on the matter there's not really any evidence in one direction
or another. In any case, being soft plastic doesn't seriously affect them in
any way that they wouldn't already have been.

I'd say I'm happiest with how Crazyface was realized. Icy is actually much
too round looking where the Animated design was made to look like it had a thin
face with really high, pronounced cheekbones. I also don't like that Icy's nose
has been colored black in attempt to emulate what Animated looked like. Except
that Animated's noses worked differently, being protrusions of brow ridges
accounting for often being differently colored than the faces. In a face of
this style, the nose should be the same purple as the rest of the face. The
standard face has style issues too. There's "guards" around the edge of the
face that really needed to be painted in order to delineate from the actual
face because being all the same color makes the cheeks look puffy and the face
awkwardly wide. Switching faces can be tough sometimes too. Each face is a
separate piece rotating around a central post, and sometimes they take a little
extra encouragement to start moving freely again.

So while Blitzwing has received a number of new traits from Animated,
everything is rendered in a Classics style. ..except maybe Crazyface, who
actually is an even better match for the animation design than the Animated toy
somehow. But I kind of like the result of this merging of design concepts being
to make Blitzwing look like a bigger, tougher Seeker, even to the way the jet
nosecone hangs off the back of the head. Original Blitzwing was mostly notable
for being a stack of indistinct boxes. I'm honestly happy they decided to bring
in some additional elements to up the visual interest. Though somehow I can't
help but be reminded of the number of custom Blitzwings I saw over the years
that used Classics Seekers as a starting point.

Blitzwing is another of a recent class of toys that see very sparing use of
ball joints in the articulation model. In fact as posing joints go only the
ankles use ball joints. The tail winglets to the side of either foot also use
them, but those aren't load bearing. Blitzwing makes use of big, thick
universal joints at the hips and shoulders. None of them are ratcheted joints,
but they're solid to hold poses all by virtue of friction. Blitzwing has a
really great range of motion at all the major joints. Even the wing edges
sticking out from the back of the legs has no negative impact on the range of
the knees. Blitzwing has a chunky, blocky appearance, but has a very surprising
freedom of movement overall. The only place where it gets screwed up is at the
shoulders because they won't lock in place. Though to look at it from another
perspective, the way those panels are made to fold, you can really easily fake
some extended range of motion out of the shoulders.

Blitzwing doesn't immediately appear to have a lot of paint, since few small
details are executed with paint. But Blitzwing still uses quite a bit. Most of
it takes the form of color matching parts of limbs where the mold layout
disagrees. So the toy isn't shortchanged on paint apps, they're just used in a
way where they end up not standing out very much in order to make parts of the
toy not stand out so much. The helmet is painted over in yellow, and the yellow
isn't adhered especially well, because yellow paint is generally terrible. Just
in the short time I've been messing with my own Blitzwing I've noticed spots of
the paint having rubbed off. Below the chin is an especially likely spot, since
you'll invariably rub or scrape over that edge if you try to rotate the faces.

Transformation

You will know pain and despair. But just with the nosecone. Because changing
Blitzwing in to either of its vehicle forms - and especially switching directly
between them is far, far more simple than you would probably ever expect.
Except for that one detail that will probably have you stopped for at least as
long as it takes to accomplish the entire rest of the process. The very soft
plastic nosecone was very likely intended at the engineering stage to actually
be a more rigid piece, because I think like that it would actually be able to
work. The tabs that seem like they should be involved somehow in keeping the
nosecone in place for either vehicle form ultimately do nothing but get in the
way and make it harder to jam the nose shut. The groove meant to catch under
the front edge of the cockpit canopy can't do its work in a plastic this soft;
it'll just distort around the tab until it comes loose. The spring forcing the
robot head up isn't helping matters either, and after photography is done I may
look in to whether it'll be practical to disable that.

But that's really the bummer about how the toy transforms, because it's the
only part that is a complete failure. If it could have been the material that
it looks like it was meant to be, there wouldn't be any significant issues with
how the toy transforms. Just having it in hand it's fairly easy to understand
with only the package photos as reference how the parts will move to form
either of the vehicle modes and it's not a great difficulty to get them all
there. The one bright spot with the nosecone situation is that you only ever
have to secure it in place once along the way, and it can stay as it is when
switching from tank to jet or vice-versa. Otherwise direct conversion from one
vehicle mode to the other largely just requires quarter-turns of the robot
limbs to change the outward facing surface and swapping between which set of
vehicle-specific parts is hidden. It's actually kind of surprising how distinct
the tank and jet are from each other when you realize how much of the major
parts of the toy stay in the same locations for both.

Tank Mode

It's hard to decide which vehicle mode works better overall, but the tank
probably has less of the other mode plainly visible. As tanks go, it's a bit on
the stubby side. Actually, using the turret as the point of reference, it seems
like it's missing an inch or so of the back end of the drive base. Despite the
abbreviated appearance, it sells pretty well as a tank. The footprint is wide
and square, it has enough panel coverage to be able to give the illusion of a
solid structure (no H's here) and from the front, top, and sides there is very
little of the jet standing out visibly. Now, look from the back or of course
underneath and it's a different matter. The back really betrays the nature of
things since there's no natural cover for the empty spaces inside. You can
adjust some of the vestigial aircraft surfaces to help close those in. It'll
never be a perfect result, but sometimes just not having a gaping hole is good
enough. I won't act like there aren't other gaps and spaces visible around the
tank where from the right angles you can see to the jet bits contained inside.
But what I think makes it work is that from the majority of points of view you
can't see that.

The rotating turret also surprised and impressed me. At least at first. I
like that the functional detail was designed in, especially since it doesn't
serve any additional purpose to the toy. The point of rotation is not doing any
favors though. It swivels under the front edge of the turret, and so the back
end swings really wide of the body. In doing it also uncovers a big chunk of
the previously hidden jet anatomy, which all by itself makes me inclined
against turning the turret at all. And since I'm certain this rotation is what
led to the shoulder problem, in the end I'd have been just as happy to see this
function left out. I kind of love the main gun, meanwhile. In basic functional
terms it's not doing anything new or groundbreaking. It's a missile launcher,
and fully contains the loaded missile which is very nice to see. And you get a
normal spring-powered launch. But it has a novel trigger method. Rather than
directly pressing a button or lever, you pull the cannon barrel back to release
the catch. So to launch the missile, you end up emulating the recoil action you
might see in a real tank. That's decently clever by itself, but I think what
finally really sold it for me was the actual feel of the action. There's
something intensely satisfying about a pump-action missile launcher. I really
really wish this could have had a magazine designed in so that multiple
projectiles could be carried and auto-loaded. Expending four or five missiles
in quick succession this way may have just been too much fun. But even as a
single-shot system, this is pretty great. The missile doesn't launch all that
far, maybe two feet if you're lucky. But at this point I think the method
trumps any result.

The tank-specific surfaces are detailed accordingly. And while the drive
base tends to blend together well enough, it ends up clashing some with the
turret. Partly the basic shapes are to blame, as the tank elements on the base
are more squared off, while the turret has more flowing curves. The style and
pattern of the sculpted detail is also distinctly different between them. It's
the part of this that does probably the most damage to the idea that this is
supposed to be a single cohesive vehicle form. Making the tank "skin" less
specifically tank-styled probably could have helped everything blend better
overall while not taking away from the tankness at all. Also, one final note of
caution: The jet canopy hangs a little bit low under the body. There could be
paint scrape issues if rolled repeatedly over rough, irregular surfaces such as
trying to monster-truck Autobot cars or something.

Jet Mode

As a jet, the toy is less concerned with the practice of hiding parts. The
only major element of the tank that might be thought of as "concealed" is the
main gun, and that's debatable. Partly because the instructions suggest
swinging the cannon forward under the body for an attack configuration, and
because when stowed within the body, I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least
a vague intent for the gun barrel to be interpreted as an engine nozzle. So
yeah, while the tank may do more of a job of hiding the alternate mode
elements, the jet takes some steps to try to just incorporate them. In these
two different approaches, both vehicles can probably be seen as reaching an
equivalent success in their execution. The jet mode has more "good" angles to
be able to look at it, since even the robot details underneath can almost be
passable as just generic machine elements. The decided squareness required for
the tank mode is the biggest sacrifice the jet has to make. As long as you're
not trying to look at this with the expectation of a realistic vehicle form,
you won't really notice anyway.

Though I think the tank does the best at securing itself together, the jet
manages pretty well too. The tabs used to fix the robot arm elements in place
could stand to be a tiny bit more snug. That's the main source of a feeling
like the jet is fragile. The way this mode is designed, the arms and legs are
supposed to be mutually supporting to some extent. Both portions also have tabs
elsewhere to help anchor in, but the legs get a much more solid lock in to the
vehicle body overall even discounting the hip connections. It's little surprise
that the boosters or whatever the arms are supposed to become in this mode end
up the weak link as they have the weakest connection to the rest of the body
structure in general.

There's some thoughtful design elements. The wings have additional panels
that can be swiveled out to help fill out the wing shape which would otherwise
need to be truncated to fit within the legs. The robot feet are left to hang
out at the back of the jet, but instead of a hearty shrug and moving on, the
feet got sculpted detail that resembles jet engine nozzles. It's a hell of a
stretch to try to pretend they are any sort of real jet component, but the
sculpt at least helps bridge the fantasy to some degree of reality and make
these robot feet more believable as intentional parts of the aircraft. The
canopy is hinged and meant to open a bit, but in jet mode it mostly can't at
all. The tab that theoretically holds the nosecone in place is part of the
canopy, and no room is left for it to hinge open while engaged with the nose.
It's one of those things where you can see what someone had in mind at the
time, but the way it works out they might as well not have bothered.

I didn't try to pin the tank down as being related to anything real because
outside of design concepts shared by most conventional tanks, it just isn't.
And while this jet mode is of course not drawing from any real world sources,
it may be borrowing from other fiction. With the booster structures on the
back, it does mildly resemble a Robotech Alpha Fighter (or Mospaeda Legioss
fighter, if you prefer). Not to anything near the same degree that Classics
Jetfire was a Valkyrie, but there could credibly have been an influence. The
gerwalk mode of the Alpha won't work though, which I only mention at all
because I know for some people that's A Thing.

Accessories

Blitzwing comes with a sword and a small rifle. Small to the point of
looking more like an extended pistol. The gun is pretty standard fare in the
realm of vaguely teched up handguns, and would be generic enough to look good
with anyone that has a compatible 5mm hand or port to hold it. Oddly, Blitzwing
almost can't do so himself. The shape of the forearms along with where the
fists sit almost entirely prevents the toy from hand-carrying the gun. The most
you can do is get the very end of the handle in the hand and then turn the
wrist just a little and turn the rifle a tiny bit until it'll stay put okay.
Though at this point you have the thing at an awkward angle and it just starts
to feel like it wasn't worth bothering that much. It seems like the gun and the
forearm may have been handled separate from each other. The stock is all that
causes the problem, and that could easily have had its shape modified during
development if the conflict had been noticed.

For use in the vehicle modes the gun is fine. It can sit on the tank like a
commander's machinegun post, or be placed in a variety of spots on the jet as a
fixed cannon. With two extra 5mm posts sticking out to either side, it's not
hard to find a spot to fit the rifle on the vehicles. Just the robot mode has a
hard time getting use out of it.

The sword works out a bit better. For one it does actually fit in the hands.
This is a proportion-tweaked and up-detailed take on the original Electron
Scimitar, and kinda has all the essential robot-sword aspects in its favor. The
hand guard is needlessly large and complicated, the blade is thick as well as
having varying widths and angles as you progress along its length. And there's
a vent in the middle Just Because. It looks entirely impractical to use, but
since it's for a robot it is suddenly ideal.

There's one side-facing peg to help the sword mount in the vehicle modes,
and a "pass-through" 5mm port on the opposite side making it a valid gun mount
when needed. For the tank the sword fits as an armor plate on top of the
turret, helping to close it in some and make the cannon seem more structurally
embedded. A similar purpose is served in jet mode, where it can be used to
disguise a large gap between the boosters on the back. I guess if you want to
it could hang under a wing too, but that's silly when it has a perfectly
functional place to store already in that mode. Robot mode is a little more of
a trick if you have the tank's cannon pointing up behind the head as intended.
In that case you need to open the cannon armature up a little (which tends to
involve pushing the head and cockpit assembly forward to make room) and you can
peg the sword to the port on the base of the cannon where it will sit just fine
as you snap everything back in place. It looks pretty natural like this too, so
I'm well enough satisfied by the solution even if it's a little awkward to
place and remove. If you keep the cannon pointed down, however, the 5mm ports
on the back are much more accessible so it's really easy to quickly stow the
sword.

Blitzwing also comes with a missile. It's designed kind of neat, too. While
it of course has the long tail as expected, the first centimeter or so is made
to look like a complete round by itself that is attached to the tail. There are
a few kinds of tank ammo that look similar, though as far as I understand a
form like that isn't standard. Regardless, I like the thought process of the
missile's design. It's neat to have a complete looking projectile represented
independent of the safety-required tail, instead of trying to elongate details
in an attempt to blend the two aspects.

Closing Remarks

Blitzwing is big, chunky, and solid built, all qualities I find positive.
But there's also one major and another moderate flaw. I'm not sure I want to
characterize them as mistakes in design anymore, because I feel like the
problems come down to the materials utilized instead of oversight in
development. However you want to acknowledge these issues though, they do
exist, and only the lesser of them is something that has options to try to fix.
The nosecone which not only impedes transforming the toy but is also known to
have a damaging effect over even a short time is something you'll be stuck
with. And the way it's assembled I'm not sure after-market parts replacement is
something you should count on.

I like what the toy is doing beyond those points though. Blitzwing manages a
surprising amount with an impressive economy of parts and actions between each
form. I'm still not sure if this is exactly the Classics Blitzwing I've wanted,
but I know that it's more what I wanted than not. Including the Animated faces.
Now, if Blitzwing had come with Human Alliance Football Coach I think I could
just about call this perfect, but I'm happy with it anyway. I have to call this
Could Have Been Better on the Figurereviews Non-Numeric
Scale because of the nosecone issue, but if I could ignore that I'd gladly
call Blitzwing "Good."

Is it crazy that I think Blitzwing might actually be a little better than Springer? Yes, the shoulders don't work right on Blitz, but Springer's aren't perfect either. Springer might not be as bad, but both figures have unstable chest/shoulder assemblies, a flaw I hate. But comparing the... read more

formerly nortagem

2013-06-10
5:27 am

My main complaint is the same as most: the design of the weak locking shoulders. I wonder if a smaller deluxe scale would remedy any of this? I know that would remedy the oddity of displaying this guy with most of my other Generations DELUXE figures, particularly next to his other triple-changing co... read more